Why do good UX professionals pick the wrong companies?

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the author's career journey as a UX professional, recounting moments of choosing the wrong companies for the wrong reasons and the lessons learned from these experiences.

🙋 Q&A

[01] Choosing the Wrong Companies

1. What were the key issues the author faced when working at the large corporation?

• The company had a "top-down" mentality where they believed they knew best without considering user input, contradicting the principles of user-centric design.
• The UX department was created without a clear vision, and the stakeholders were more interested in appearing to do UX rather than genuinely understanding customer needs.
• The author was asked to manipulate research findings to report favorable results to higher-ups, rather than being transparent about the issues.

2. What challenges did the author face when trying to "save" the IT company in crisis?

• The company believed that simply hiring UX professionals and creating a UX department would solve their problems, but they did not know how to actually apply UX principles.
• The product teams did not even need a UX designer, and the author had to go through another round of internal hiring just to be placed on a team.
• The author's idea of being a "hero" and single-handedly transforming the company was quite naive.

3. What issues did the author encounter at the marketing agency?

• The author felt that creating short-lived marketing campaigns was not aligned with their desire to create meaningful, lasting experiences for users.
• The client had specific visual requirements before even understanding the business needs or target users, leading to the creation of "digital waste" without a solid foundation.
• The author desired a workplace that truly valued research and proceeded thoughtfully, rather than simply accepting any budget and moving forward without consideration for users.

[02] Lessons Learned

1. What were the key lessons the author learned from these experiences?

• One person cannot single-handedly save a company in crisis without C-level dedication and clear action plans.
• UX designers cannot be expected to resolve not only digital product issues but also existing logistical and governance problems without proper support from the organization.
• Companies may prioritize short-term gains (e.g., promotions) over investing in user research and implementing meaningful improvements, leading to frustration for UX professionals.
• It is important to find a company that truly values the importance of research and making decisions based on user needs, rather than just accepting budgets and moving forward without a solid foundation.

2. How did the author's final experience at the e-commerce startup differ from the previous ones?

• At the startup, design decisions were initially made based on analytics, user interviews, surveys, and testing results, allowing the author to fully utilize their expertise in user research.
• However, the company later became overly focused on endless promotions, leading to the author spending most of their time creating promotional content rather than focusing on meaningful user experience improvements.
• This experience made the author question whether they were spending their time as a UX designer in the right way, ultimately leading to their decision to leave.